AUBURN — Commander Paul R. Bernard, William J. Rogers Post 153, American Legion, City Councilor Tizz Crowley and Sergeant-at-Arms Don Beaulieu met recently at Auburn Plains Cemetery to identify and flag veterans’ graves.

“Our purpose, which was to identify and flag all possible veterans buried in the cemetery, changed when three family members arrived and shared with us their personal pain over the present condition of the cemetery. They had a father, brother and sister buried there. Then we met Mr. Rose, who has 13 ancestors buried there. He has been mowing the lawn and helping to maintain the cemetery since his father was buried there in 1962.”

There are graves remembering Noah Waterman, a Revolutionary soldier who served under James Churchhill in 1775, Peles Wadsworth in 1776 and Ebenezer Washburn in 1777, under the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Some head stones are on the ground and some are broken. Bernard said, “We had first adopted this cemetery from the Veterans of Foreign War Post 1603 just to place American flags, but now our purpose has changed to restoration.”

Rose is mapping out the cemetery and organizing the history.

For more information on helping to restore the cemetery, write to Bernard at [email protected] or friend him on Facebook under Paul R. Bernard.